Kryptonite
by HarleyQuinnClownPrincess
Summary: "If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman? If I'm alive and well will you be there holding my hand?" he asked her just as the doctor came in, she nodded and kissed his temple before leaving the room.
1. Chapter 1

They all sat around the table, their 'leader' droning on and on, debriefing a case that was of minimal interest to most of the people in the group, it was more to kill time before JJ brought them a new case. The door opened suddenly making more than a few of them jump "You'll want to sit down for this one Hotch" she said tossing a file down on the table, he sat down in the empty seat and watched her move to the white board. "You remember the Profiler Potential coming in from New York?" she asked looking over her shoulder at him, he nodded "We figured she just changed her mind and they forgot to call us" she said turning to face the team "Well turns out she was kidnapped the day before she was scheduled to leave"

"Wait, that was just over a year ago JJ. How did no one realize this before?" Hotch questioned the blond woman

"Well, New York police department is playing it off as a mistake on the records and her being alone in the city as well as not having many friends no one reported her missing. Either way, New York is having some problems right now, they have an UnSub claiming to be the physical incarnation of The Joker, from the Batman comics."

"What does this have to do with the missing potential?" Emily questioned having gotten lost in JJ's ramblings

"Well that's just it, what's the Joker without Harley Quinn?" she asked rhetorically "They don't think she's is doing any of this willingly as we all know from the comics the Joker was notoriously violent against Quinn, and if this man is claiming to be the Joker we can only assume he is treating her the same. New York is willing to make her the victim in all of this and not hold any of it against her as well as giving her badge back after this is all over and she's deemed mentally sound"

"So New York has asked us to come out?" Rossi asked, JJ nodded "Well, wheels up in thirty"

"Reid, brush up on everything every published with the Joker and Quinn in it. We'll need an expert to stay one step ahead of him" Hotch instructed, the youngest member of the team nodded quickly before jumping from his seat and out the door to grab everything he could from the local book store. Everyone filed out afterwards except Rossi and Hotch

"Should we disclose her name?" Rossi asked

"No, we'll leave it with calling her Quinn. They'll get too attached if she's classed as one of our own, it will cause too many problems if we don't make it to her in time" Hotch reasoned, there was a bigger reason why he was keeping her name secret but he didn't want everyone knowing just yet, it would ruin one of his team members resolve on the case and he needed everyone on their top game.

"I'll call NYPD, tell them were on our way"

She stared at her self in the mirror, it was grungy; dirty streaks distorted her reflection. She didn't know why he always picked such holes, but she assumed it had something to do with them always being abandoned and him needing to keep low, NYPD didn't make the same silly mistakes Gotham PD did. She sighed before pulling her hair into pigtails and applying the grease paint he forced her to wear everyday, she was almost glad her mother had forced her into gymnastics when she was younger, it kept the beatings to a minimum when she messed up. She knew he would beat her anyway, no matter how perfectly she did everything from the flouncy walk to the accent; the night would always end in a beating it just varied in severity. She knew he would kill her when he realized it was her that called the NYPD before some of his more violent crimes, but her death was better than thousands. She slipped the jester costume on and sat on the edge of her small bed waiting for him to come get her for what ever he would want today. "Rise and shine, cupcake!" he yelled, kicking the door open. He fit the character pretty well; he was tall, lean and lanky but he lacked the intimidation, which cause him to kill a lot more people than his namesake. With the character, Joker, it was about sending a message, about getting the joke that is life, but with the man in front of her it was about notoriety and fame and she had been unfortunate enough to have been walking down the street and catch his eye. He ripped her up by her arm and hauled her out of the room, "We've got big company, Sugar pie" he laughed, she hated when he called her the sickly sweet names and had to force herself to keep from gagging as well as stay in character.

"Who's that Mistah J?" she asked throwing on a 1930's flapper accent

"The NYPD's brought in the FBI" he smirked sickly; his face was marred from having given himself a botched facial reconstruction. _They brought the BAU? They must be desperate. I hope it's not Hotchner's team; he doesn't need to see me like this_ she thought quickly

"What are you gonna do, Mistah J?" she questioned lightly, knowing he hated when she questioned him too much

"We're gonna put on a show" he laughed "A nice big one to welcome Agent Hotchner and his team to New York" he added before laughing sadistically again. _Shit_ she cursed in her mind; he threw her onto the couch and tossed a newspaper at her. She half read through it mostly concentrating on what he was rambling about, two things stood out to her while he rambled Hotch's hotel and bank explosion. "You stay here, Candy cane. I'm going to round up the clowns and get a car, you go get your hat and met me outside in ten" she nodded excitedly before taking off upstairs, she had ten minutes to make herself presentable to the wannabe Joker and warn the police.

Hotch stood in a large room surrounded by his team in Police he'd only just met "We can assume by now you all know what this Joker impersonator looks like, so we are going to give you a mental profile" he explained as Reid stood up

"He's much like the Joker character in manor and appearance, but where he goes wrong is in what he wants" he explained "Where the character wants everyone to see the joke in life and get his message out, this man wants fame and notoriety. He most likely feels like life has cheated him somehow and this is his way of getting what he sees he deserves. The character is highly intelligent where our UnSub is most likely of average intelligence, which is why he has kidnapped the Agent, her intelligence is probably what he relies on, which in turn angers him and probably causes him to beat her. This man isn't afraid to do anything as he has shown, he'll do what he needs to get the legacy he wants" Reid concluded before sitting back down

"Agent Hotchner?" a cop yelled from a little ways away

"Yes"

"There's someone on the line for you"

"Quantico?" the officer shook his head; Hotch rushed to a phone and set it on speaker "Hello"

"Agent Hotchner?" a voice whispered

"Yes. Who's this?"

"We don't have time for that. Evacuate your hotel building and set up officers at every major bank in New York City, he's on the move Agent. Stop him" the whispered female voice explained before the line went dead.

"He's on the move?" Emily questioned

"Joker…" Hotch sighed "Commissioner! We need to evacuate the hotel and set up guards on every major bank!" Hotch yelled rushing towards the man

"She phones in tips like this every time he goes big, I tried to convince her not to; to save her own life but she hung up on me. It's like she knows he's going to kill her and she's saving as many people she can before she does" the man admitted

"It's what she's been trained to do but we need to hurry" Hotch urged

"With the character, he would set up explosives and such before hand so it took less time" Reid said quickly

"I'll give the order"

She sat in the back of the large van, the spandex headdress itching her as her hair pushed down into her scalp. She prayed silently that Hotch would listen to what she said and that they would catch him this time, or kill him, something that would free her from this hell. He suddenly slapped her across the face, catching her off guard "You need to talk more!" he snarled, "If you don't talk non-stop I have no reason to hit you!" he yelled in her face

"I-I'm sorry Mistah J" she whimpered causing him to slap her again

"Stop sniveling" he snapped irritated. She wasn't sure if she should start babbling about nothing or keep her mouth shut, but thankfully the van stopped behind the bank giving her a reason to stay silent as he barked orders. He ripped her out of the van and shoved her towards the rear door; she always went into the buildings first to make sure everyone was on the ground and waiting for him when he was ready to play with them. This was the part she hated the most, more than the beatings more than the scheming and plotting, scaring people was against all her training and morals. She took a deep breath before stalking into the lobby and letting off three rounds from her gun. She watched as people ran around screaming trying to find cover, she always took her time that way someone had time to call the police. She walked around looking at people who cowered at the sight of her, she suddenly kneeled beside a woman clutching her son to her chest "I'm not going to hurt you I promise, call the police tell them to hurry. I can only stall him for so long once he comes in here I have no control over what happens" she begged in a low voice, the woman nodded still obviously fearing for her and her son's life. She stood up quickly trying to make it look like she had been threatening the woman, she made sure to stand by the woman while a clown ran off to get the man of the hour. She glanced at the woman out of the corner of her eye, the woman mouthed 'thank you' making her smile slightly before dropping it and flouncing over to the bane of her life. "We're they good for you Cupcake?" he asked smirking making his self-inflicted wounds look even more grotesque

"Not a peep, Puddin'" she giggled fake-ly, draping herself over him

"Well, that's lucky for you all then" he laughed before suddenly shooting the man closest to him on his left making everyone scream "But bein' lucky doesn't mean I'm not gonna kill you" he growled, she tried desperately to hide her shock and fear as he pulled her along to walk with him through the lobby. "Now all I want is half the cash in the vaults and a few more of you dead," he laughed before turning his attention to the tellers "Now!" he barked, making them jump before rushing off to do as they were instructed. He wandered around looking at all the people "How about this one, Sugar?" he asked forcing an elderly lady to her feet and all but caressing her face with the gun

"Nah, what's the point she's gonna die soon anyway" she laughed, apologizing to the woman with her eyes

"Yeah your right" he spun around before stomping towards the woman she'd asked to call the police, he roughly grabbed her son "What about this little thing?" he snarled pulling the child's hair

"Wouldn't it be more fun to leave him scarred and tormented from seeing people die?" she asked, trying not to beg and plead him not to shoot the boy

"Good thinking, Shortcake" he smiled pushing the boy to the ground and grabbing his mother. _Shit shit shit!_ She thought quickly, she almost sighed with relief when sirens blared in the background "Ooh company. You hold her, Sweetness," he said pushing the woman against her chest, he began fixing his hair and adjusting his suit. She reluctantly put her gun to the woman's head "I wont shot you, but you have to struggle against me ok? My safety is on so there is no worry of it going off in the struggle, but if you don't we're both as good as dead," she whispered to the woman, who nodded slightly and fought against her hold halfheartedly. The FBI and a dozen New York police officers rushed through the doors, weapons drawn and every one of them aimed at the man laughing in the middle of the room like someone had just told the world's funniest joke. "We meet at last Agent Hotchner" he smiled tilting his head slightly

"Drop your weapon" Hotch barked, he started laughing

"Now, now you could say please," he taunted while pouting, her heart sped up as Morgan's gun broke off from its aim at the madman and trained itself on her as she held the now still woman, she didn't know what to do

"Drop the weapon and let her go" Morgan ordered as Prentiss and Reid's aim were quickly trained on her as well

"She doesn't have to take orders from you, Steroid boy" the psycho growled trying to stare Morgan down

"You don't have to do this we can help you" Prentiss pleaded lowering her gun slightly, _I wish I didn't_ she thought as she watched Prentiss' gun return to its original position.

"You see she does have to do this," he laughed moving towards her "Because without me she's nothing" he added laughing harder

"Don't move!" Rossi snapped

"Again you could say please!" he snarled, "How's the people at your hotel Agent?" he asked looking at Hotch

"Fine, we evacuated it ten minutes ago" Hotch replied calmly

"Good, wouldn't want anyone to get hurt now would we?" he taunted as he watched the tellers come back from the vaults with large bags of money "Ahhh! Good!" he exclaimed before snapping his fingers, the clowns behind him moved to gather the bags

"Don't move!" several police officers yelled

"Grab the money!" he yelled "We're leaving"

"Move and we'll shoot!"

"Shoot all you want, they're disposable" he drawled smiling, a few of the clowns looked between themselves before moving towards the tellers. "Elbow me in the ribs" she whispered to the woman, the woman tensed "It's the only way unless you want to come with us" she added, she felt the woman talk a deep breath before elbowing her in the ribs hard. She dropped her gun and folded at the waist holding her ribs, Morgan grabbed the woman as Prentiss moved to grab her. "It was lovely meeting you Agent Hotchner but its time for us to go now" the madman spouted quickly grabbing the out of breath woman's arm before grabbing the young boy, once again every gun in the room was trained on the forehead of the psycho. The boy's mother screamed "No! Please!" the man laughed as he backed away

"But then how would we get away?" he mocked, the woman looked towards her as she stood slightly behind him just wanting to leave before things went wrong

"Please, you let me go… just get him to let my son go" she pleaded, she shook her head

"I didn't let you go," she protested, trying not to sound like she was pleading with the woman to shut up

"Yes you did!" the woman yelled

"Ma'am please be quiet" Prentiss tried to stop the woman

"No!" she yelled shrugging Prentiss off "You told me to call the police before he came in and then you told me to fight against you and that you wouldn't shoot you!"

"I didn't tell you any of that," she said quickly fighting off the tears of fear rising to her eyes, she felt his grip on her arm tighten and she tried not to wince. He pulled her roughly into him

"Tell me she lying" he snarled

"S-she is, I-I swear," she whimpered

"Joker?" Reid's voice started drawing the madman's attention from the frightened woman

"Reid don't" Morgan snapped, Reid ignored the man and held up his gun

"We don't want to hurt you, just let them go and let us ask you some questions" Joker stared Reid down, his grip still tight on the woman's arm while his other arm was snuggly around the boys waist.

"No dice, they're coming with me. I've got to deal with this one," he snarled in the woman's direction "And he's my ticket out of here," he added smirking at the boy. "But it was a nice try" he laughed handing the boy off to a clown who wasn't bogged down by a duffle bag before reaching into his pocket and producing another gun, to replace the one he'd dropped to grab the boy. He took aim at Reid, who didn't flinch, as it seemed to him at least once a week an UnSub was pointing a gun at him.

"Please don't shoot him," she pleaded, fending off tears again

"And why not, Cupcake?" he asked never taking his eyes off Reid

"Just please… I'll explain later"

"Oh you'll be doing a lot later" he growled lowering his gun, "Now!" he yelled before at least a dozen smoke grenades hit the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

Reid all but stalked Hotch into the NYPD building, he lead Reid into a small room where he could explain a bit more about the case to the young agent. "Reid, sit" he said suddenly motioning to a small couch against the wall

"I'm fine standing. Who is she Hotch? Why haven't you given us a name?" the younger male all but demanded

"It's for your own good," Hotch said trying to avoid the subject

"All of us, or just me?" Reid snapped

"You" Hotch replied quietly

"Why? Do I know her somehow?"

"Yes, it's in her file. She specifically asked that if anything happened to her and we were called in that you were not given her name or anything to identify her until she was either dead or rescued" Hotch explained

"Why! I… I don't understand!" Reid yelled pulling at his hair, Hotch grasped the younger agents arms and put them back at his sides

"You're not supposed to Reid, let's just work the case and get her out safe then you can ask her why she was protecting you from her identity" Hotch pleaded, Reid nodded before walking out of the room still seething from being kept in the dark, not that he liked getting attached to the victims but this woman he wasn't even sure he knew had ask to specifically keep him in the dark, it boggled his brilliant mind.

She slowly came to and found herself in her 'room', she tried to sit up but the sudden throbbing of her head ceased her movements; she could hear soft sniffling coming for somewhere around her. She shifted her body of the thin mattress and found the small boy huddled in the farthest corner from her "Hey" she called softly; he looked up at her "Are you hurt?" he shook his head, she propped her self up on her elbows ignoring the searing pain behind her eyes. "I'm sorry this happened to you, I never meant for it to go like that" she apologized quietly, the boy just stared at her "What's your name?"

"J-Jake" he stuttered

"That's a nice name" she smiled "You can call me Harley, at least until we get out of here" the boy sat still for a moment not saying anything but still watching her, he suddenly began crawling over to her; he sat on the mattress beside her "Your forehead is bleeding" he said reaching out to touch the cut, she smiled and took hold of his wrist

"I'll be ok" she assured him

"He hit you, with his gun" Jake said quietly, she half laughed

"I know. If he comes back you stay behind me ok?" Jake nodded slightly "Good, now come here and get some sleep, it will seem like you've spent a lot less time here" she said sullenly before the small boy laid down beside her and looked up at her

"How long have you been here?" he asked quietly, she bit her bottom lip in thought while humming

"If I am right, from the last newspaper I saw I've been here about a year" the boy's eyes widened

"Why hasn't anyone come to find you?" he asked quickly, she smiled softly at his concern

"They didn't know I was gone, but they do now. Do you remember all the police and FBI from the bank?" he nodded "They've come to save me" she smiled thinking about the BAU team

"Garcia, have you got anything?" Morgan questioned setting his phone down on the table

"I'm running the picture you sent me through everything to get you a name and address, but as of right now sugar I've got zip" Garcia's flowery voice responded

"We should go to her apartment see if there's anything there" Prentiss suggested

"She was taken on her way to the airport, Emily. She probably hasn't been there in a year, we wouldn't find anything" Reid snapped, Prentiss looked at him confused at why he was angry with her, she glanced at Hotch who shook his head

"AHA!" Garcia yelled, making the agents jump "I have a name, Jonathan Fredrick…. Oh… oh"

"What is it Garcia?" Hotch asked

"You're not going to like this, sir. Dear old Johnny… well he's an escaped mental patient, sir."

"What got him put there?"

"That's the part your not going to like… say here two years ago he slashed up his parents claiming that, like now, he was the Joker and they were plotting against him to get him locked up" she explained "Says he'd always suffered from a slight delusion that he was someone else and that his parents were lying to him about his identity but I guess he found some outlet and learn about Joker."

"What about an address?" Prentiss asked

"Says his last known address was a room at the institute" Garcia explained "Sorry my lovelies. That's all I've got"

"Thanks Garcia" Hotch said "Dave, you and Reid go to the institute and talk to his doctor see if there was anywhere he might have gone before being put in the institute" Rossi nodded before all but dragging Reid out of the room with him.

"What are the rest of us going to do?" Prentiss questioned

"You and Morgan go back to the bank and see if there is anything that could lead us to his hideout, he's going to be livid and is probably going to take it out on the Agent. Time is something we can't waste" Hotch sighed

"Who is she Hotch?"

"It doesn't matter right now, let's just get her out of there and she can explain" he said quickly before walking away.

She found herself drifting in and out of sleep, mostly out of the need to protect the small boy now curled up against her, she wasn't sure how long they had been lying there but she was sure that eventually he would drag her out of the room and force her to do something. She sighed and moved to watch the boy sleep, as a child the idea of having children of her own had slightly terrified her as she held above average intelligence and childhood had been a terrifying and depressing time for her. She'd basically been raised by a family friend after her father all but begged as her mother worked all the time and had a slight drinking problem and her father has to work all the time. When her father died from a heart attack when she was ten, the courts shoved off on family in Canada. She had been able to hide her intelligence until she started the sixth grade in Canada, she even managed to almost fail the third grade back home, one day the teacher asked an exceedingly difficult question as a joke to lead them into a lesson and she had excitedly answered flawlessly. After that day her life had been filled with tests, more to make sure it wasn't a fluke that she had known the answer, and ridicule from her peers. They threw her into a high school, starting her off in the tenth grade at the age of twelve; she was able to convince her teachers to let her progress through high school at a normal rate and to only put slightly above average marks on her work when they handed it back. Even after all her trying to hide her age and intelligence the students some how figured it out and began their torment, some times she didn't go to school at all asking her teachers to have someone bring her the work. She was brought out of her thoughts abruptly as the door was kicked open, he hauled her up by her hair off the mattress and up to her full height before gripping the back of her neck and shoving her out the door. He threw her into a small room, she threw her hands out in front of her to break her fall but it didn't stop the rough wood floor from driving splinters into her palms and knees. He thrust a ratty old cell phone in her face "Call him" he snarled

"W-who?" she stammered

"Our guest, Agent Hotchner and all his pretty little tag alongs" he smirked, her stomach tightened and a lump formed in her throat as she took the phone in her shaking hand, she dialed the number and held the device loosely against her ear 'New York Sheriffs office' a voice came through the small speaker

"A-agent Hotch-ner, p-please" she stumbled, his hand danced across her face causing her to nearly drop the phone

"Stop your stuttering!" he snapped

Hotch looked up from the case files he had been looking over as an officer poked her head into the room "Sir?" she asked quietly, he hummed disinterested "Sir, she's calling again. Says she needs to talk to you and your team alone"

"Transfer the call to this phone," he said quickly as JJ jumped from her seat to collect the others. Once the others had filled the room and the door was shut Hotch picked up the call "Are you alright?" he asked, surprising the others with his genuine worry

'For now, sir' she replied without whispering this time, tipping them off that something was up

"Is he there with you?" Prentiss questioned quickly

'Yes'

"He's angry about earlier, isn't he?" Reid asked

'Yes' she said, Reid noted her voice sounded almost relieved after he spoke

"Is there something he wants from us?" Hotch questioned

'Yes, Sir. Your Technical Analyst is to trace the ip address and hack into the computer. Please don't send anyone to the address you find. You will be informed when you can come' she explained, Morgan ripped his cell phone out of it holster and called Garcia

"Is there anyway you can get away?" Prentiss asked, earning herself looks

'No' she said quickly

"Garcia's got it!" Morgan said quickly drawing the attention of his team to the computer screen as it changed from snow to a shaky image of the agent sat on a beaten up floor looking at her knees.

"Are you hurt?" Hotch questioned

'Not yet, Sir' she answered glancing up at the camera, making Reid shift uncomfortably she might have been just looking up at the UnSub but the way her make-up was smeared and the fact it seemed like her eyes were boring into him as if pleading with him to help her, he shifted his gaze to Hotch who looked deep in thought. The phone was suddenly ripped away from her 'Agents, how are you?' Jonathan's voice slipped through the phone as if he were in the room with them.

"We'd be better if you let her and the boy go" Reid all but snarled, startling the rest of his team

'Now, now Dr. Reid no need to get snippy. You might get them, when I'm finished' he laughed manically

"What is the point of this?" Hotch asked, stopping Reid from the inevitable rant

'Just to show you a good time, it's what friends do right? I just wanted you to be able to share in my fun'

"Holding a woman hostage and terrifying a young boy is your idea of fun?" Reid snapped

'I think it's great fun, Spencer' he snarled out Reid's name, making the young agent stop for a second. 'If anyone has the heroic idea of sending out cops to this address her and the boy are dead' he growled before handing up and making them watch him crush the phone. It was then the abuse of the agent began at first he was just using his hands but soon he pulled out a knife and began carving into her exposed skin. It was at that time Reid walked out of the room slamming the door behind him, Morgan and Hotch looked at each other before Morgan followed the genius out of the building. "Reid" he called out but was ignored "Reid!" he yelled this time, the younger male stopped "What's wrong with you man?" Reid looked up at the man he had come to consider the brother he hadn't had when he was growing up.

"I don't know" Reid sighed "Hotch told me some stuff before all this happened and it's making me think"

"What did he tell you?" Morgan asked confused

"She's someone from my past… I can't place her and I don't like it"

"How does Hotch know she's from your past?"

"It was in her file apparently, Hotch said that it specifically said that if anything were to happen to her and we were called in I wasn't to be given anything to identify her until she was rescued or dead"

"Why would she put that in her file?"

"I don't know!" Reid all but yelled rubbing his face

"Calm down, well get her out of there and you can ask her yourself" Morgan assured him putting his hand on his shoulder "Come on Pretty Boy, at some point this asshole if going to get bored and that's when we'll go in" he smiled leading the lanky man back into the building. "I'm going to go sit somewhere…" Reid said quickly "I don't think I can sit there and watch him do that to her" Morgan nodded before breaking off to the other room.

She laid on the floor after a particularly hard slap to the face that left her dazed, the click of a switch blade made her jump as she looked up at him with bruised eyes, blood dripping from her eyebrow made her close one eye. He grabbed her face harshly and ran the tip of the blade down her nose then across her cheek causing blood to bead against her white face paint. He snarled when she didn't flinch, he roughly grabbed her arm and gashed her arm deeply laughing triumphantly as she cried out, he suddenly turned to the camera that was now on a tripod "Be quick agent Hotchner, we wouldn't want her to bleed out" he laughed before turning the camera off and returning to cutting her.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as Hotch came out of the room followed by Morgan, Reid pulled the Kevlar vest over his head so quickly he'd cracked his neck, adrenaline had yet to pump through his veins as hard in five years as it was right now. "This is far too similar to Hankel" Morgan sneered as flashes of watching Reid in almost the same position this woman had been in.

"I was tortured less" Reid said nonchalantly as he threw himself into the SUV after Morgan.

"You almost died!" Morgan yelled

"She could too! There's the possibility she is already dead!" Reid yelled back

"No, he'll torture her until we kill him" Hotch cut in, stopping the two agents from arguing like small children.

"There's still the chance she could die" Reid said quietly looking out the tinted window

"Reid" Hotch said almost warningly, as if not to write her off just yet. The rest of the ride was silent except for the blaring sirens and the screeching of the tires, they slid to a halt in front of a run down warehouse on Avenue X. Reid, Morgan and Prentiss jumped out of the vehicle before it had come to a complete stop, NYPD and SWAT were close behind, they waited as SWAT rushed the door.

She heard a bang from somewhere in the building, he'd ceased his assault only moments before, she knew she was loosing a lot of blood as her vision faded in and out and her hearing continually decreased. There was a pain in her side telling her he had left the blade in her skin and she knew from the pain and trouble breathing he had punctured one of her lungs. She moved quietly as she could to grasp the handle of the blade with as much strength as she could spare, her teeth clamped down on her lip to stop her from screaming out as she pulled the blade from her body. She tucked the knife between her and the floor, before losing the fight not to cough she heard blood hit the floor in front of her and felt it trickle down her chin. He crouched down in front of her grabbing her hair and pulling her up to his face before laughing and letting her fall back to the floor, when he stood and turned to the door she took her chance and drove the knife into his calf. Once he hit the floor she gathered what little will she had and pulled her self off the floor, she staggered down the hall as fast as she could to get to her room, she threw the door open and all but fell in startling Jake. He rushed to help her up but she pushed him away "Go… run" she breathed before coughing up more blood, he stood terrified as heavy foot falls came down the hall "Hide!" she tried to yell, not wanting to take anymore chances with the boys life. This time he took no time at all to do as he was told and hide as quickly as he could, Jonathan stood in the doorway putting most of his weight on one leg now. "That was a bad idea, Cupcake. Now I have to break my promise to Dr. Reid and Agent Hotchner" he laughed, before the sound of guns cocking behind him filled the air

"Drop your weapon and get on your knees" Hotch yelled

"How about I do that in reverse" he laughed as he dropped to the floor, before anyone registered his plan he leaned forward and buried the blade deep into her chest shattering her breastplate, her eyes widened as a gurgling noise erupted from her throat. A shot rang out before blood exploded from Jonathan's shoulder causing him to fall to the side "We need a bus!" Prentiss yelled as Reid and Morgan rushed forward, Morgan grabbed Jonathan and roughly cuffed him as Reid rushed to the woman "J-Ja-" she swallowed hard "J-Jak-Jake" she stammered

"You're going to be fine" Reid tried to comfort her "EMS is on the way" she ignored him rolling on to her side and trying to pull herself towards a slightly open door "Whoa, don't move!" Reid all but yelled forcing her to lay back, she grabbed the vest and pulled him down

"T-the b-oy" she stuttered through gritted teeth "B-bathroom!"

"Hotch!" he yelled pulling out of her grip "The boy is in the bathroom!" Hotch rushed towards the bathroom throwing to door open, he found Jake huddled in the bathtub "Hey, my name is Aaron Hotchner, I'm with the FBI" he smiled

"Are you here to save Harley?" Jake asked quietly

"Yes, you don't have to be scared anymore the bad man is gone" he explained holding out his hand to the boy, Jake nodded before taking Hotch's hand and allowing him to pull him from the tub floor. Once out of the bathroom, Jake let go of Hotch's hand and rushed over to the woman who was still lying on the floor, he stopped beside Reid "What happened?" he demanded looking between Reid and Hotch

"J-Jake" she stuttered "G-go with A-agent Hotchner, h-he'll take you to see y-your mom" she smiled but she wasn't fooling anyone, both Reid and Jake saw the pain displayed in the forced smile. "No" he said defiantly "I want to stay with you!"

"J-Jake please" she pleaded, as her already labored breathing became slower and more irregular, her eyes closed slightly; Reid could tell even if they were directed towards the boy she wasn't actually focused on him "Where is the EMS!" he yelled frantic, he knew the stages of death

"They can't get in the building with the stretcher," Morgan explained as he rushed back into the room, Reid let out a frustrated sounds before gently pushing Jake out of the way, he maneuvered his arms under her neck and knees before lifting her off the floor. Morgan watched his lanky, possibly underweight, friend pick up the woman who probably weighed around the same as Reid with little to no effort; he snapped out of his thoughts and turned on his heel "Everybody out of the way!" he yelled down the hall as Reid fallowed him out of the room. Reid walked turned to the side so there was no possibility he could accidently hit her head off anything he knew Hotch was behind him but what surprised him the most was that Jake was walking beside him holding her dangling hand squeezing her hand every time he thought she was slipping. The sun outside was blinding but EMS was waiting by the door, Reid set her down on the stretcher and took a half a step back as they began hooking her up to things. Hotch appeared beside him "You go with her" he said quietly

"But I don't know anything about her" Reid replied quickly

"Yes you do" Hotch said looking at him before taking Jake's hand and walking away, Reid sighed quietly before jumping in the back of the ambulance.

Reid sat in the waiting area waiting for the doctor to come out and tell him what was happening, he rested his elbows on his knees before rubbing his face, he'd checked his watch a few times and had worked out that she had been in surgery for almost 3 hours, he closed his eyes and put his hands over his face. He jumped when someone suddenly sat down beside him, his eyes snapped to Morgan who held out a coffee, he muttered thanks taking the hot liquid. "I figured you could use some company," he said sipping his own coffee

"What's happening to him?"

"Going away for murder, attempted murder and two counts of kidnapping" Morgan explained "But he'll plea insanity and get put back in the institute" he snarled, Reid nodded before taking a small sip of coffee

"Spencer Reid?" a voice called, he all but jumped up

"That's me," he said quickly walking over to a doctor

"Surgery went fine, she should make a full recovery. When she wakes up, I will need to do a mental examination to see if she will need anxiety medication or something like that," the doctor explained, Reid nodded "Now you can go sit with her but I doubt she will be awake for a while" Reid nodded again before following the doctor down the hall, they stopped in front of a room and the doctor motioned for them to enter, Reid looked at Morgan before stepping into the room. He stopped at the foot of the bed and was confronted with a now cleaned, stitched and bandaged up woman, Hotch had been right he did know her and had most of his life. He rubbed his face as Morgan appeared beside him "We grew up together" he said quietly never looking away from her sleeping face "My parents pretty much raised her, she was a few months older than me but we could be ourselves around each other. Neither of us hid the fact that we were smarter than everyone around us, she was my best friend. Her dad died when we were ten and the court decided her mother wasn't fit to raise her; she was a drunk who taught university physics on the same campus my mom taught college English. They forced her to move to Canada to live with her aunt, we met up again at the academy we'd laughed about the chances of meeting again after ten years" he stopped talking as Morgan put his hand on his shoulder "She just left one day, didn't say anything just left. I had no idea she was in New York"

"Well she was coming back" Morgan said defending the woman

"Three years later" Reid snapped

"Hey, everyone has to do their own thing, you know that. Maybe at the time she thought that just leaving was the best thing for her to do, if she had told you she was going to New York would you have honestly stayed here?" Reid opened his mouth to answer but Morgan raised an eyebrow

"No" Reid sighed looking back at the woman "She was all I had, Derek. My mom was in the institute, my dad's been gone since I was younger and then she comes walking down the hall at the academy and it was like everything was ok again, like it had been when we were kids" he rubbed his face before sitting down beside the woman and taking her hand.

"Things happen for a reason, Reid" Morgan said quietly before leaving the room, Reid sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day

"Why did you leave?" he asked quietly, brushing tatted fringe out of her face.


End file.
